And for this particular round we are building under the theme:
“Quoth the Raven - Build a scene or story based on the work of the American writer Edgar Allen Poe.”

When I first received this category, my heart sank. I couldn’t believe the judges spelt that genius’ name wrong! It’s Allan Poe not Allen Poe ;) I kidding, my heart sank because I had no idea who he was or what he wrote. Half an hour of reading story synopsises on Wikipedia and a watch of the Simpsons version of "The Raven" sorted out that problem! I didn’t enjoy most of the plots, and most of the ones I did enjoy would have made terrible LEGO models (for example, there was one about this man who was in a prison cell and there was a pit in the middle. Then the walls started to close in and a swinging pendulum was slowly lowering down from the roof. I found this exciting until I realised it was set in complete darkness!). I chose not to go with the Raven poem as I didn't particularly understand it and I didn't believe it was the best of Poe's work. Thats's just my opinion though :) I eventually came to a story called “The Masque of the Red Death”, which I really enjoyed. I then watched a film of it produced by the University of Sydney, which gave me lots of ideas.

I have changed parts of the story, missed bits out and added new sections in, just to make the whole thing a bit more “LEGO-friendly” :)

Enjoy!

Narrator: Welcome, all, to The Masque of the Red Death! *Evil lafter*

Narrator: There once was a cruel, disgusting plague known as the Red Death. It swept the land, taking many victims with it. It was said that those who got the plague, began to both drool and sweat blood. The body would then eat itself alive until only a withered skeleton was left. All in under half an hour from when the victim caught the disease.
Out in the country, there lived a young, happy prince named Prospero. He and his advisor, Caspian, brought around 1000 noble men and women to his abbey to give them sanctuary from the disease.

Narrator: After a few months of being locked inside the abbey, Prospero realised that all of his acquaintances were sad and depressed. So to raise their spirits, he decided to hold a ball. This is where we join them…

Narrator: Prospero had decorated the rooms of his abbey in different colours; green, orange, indigo, and more.
Caspian: There’s just one thing I don’t understand sir.
Prospero: And what might that be dear Caspian?
Caspian: If this ball is meant to make us forget about the pain and suffering of the Red Death….

Caspian: …then why did you decide to decorate a room with bleeding walls, strange tar-like drowning humans and tenticles?!
Prospero: What are you going to do about it Caspian, call the irony police?

Irony Police Chief: MOVE MOVE MOVE! Take down the Prince!
Irony Police Officer 1: Police! Get down on the floor!
Irony Police Officer 2: Don’t say anything, anything you do say may be given as eviden-
Prospero: Guys, guys, guys! If you want to confront anyone about this, then go talk to Edgar Allan Poe. He wrote this rubbish…

Narrator: Located in the dark, bleeding room was a large ebony clock. On the hour, every hour, it would strike. But the strike it made was so nerve chilling that the noble men and women stopped dancing, and the band stopped playing. It was the worst noise any of the guests had ever heard.
But when the clock stopped striking for 10pm, the music started up again.

Prospero: Lets dance!

Narrator: When it came to Midnight, the clock chimed once again. But on the 12th chime, there came a knocking.

Prospero: Mr Raven, I do believe you have entered into the wrong Edgar Allan Poe story.
Raven: Oh yes, you’re quite right! Silly me – I should come into the chamber of “The Raven”, not “The Masque of the Red Death”. Good bye chaps!
Prospero: I was worried that something bad was going to happen when that clock stroked! The whole evening would be ruined if there were to be another interruption…

Prospero: I have you cornered now Demon! Turn around and reveal yourself!

Narrator: Under the light of the chandelier, the mystery figure’s face was shown. Terror swept the abbey; the face of the man was identical to that of a Red Death victim. However, this was not a victim of the Red Death, but the Red Death itself.

Narrator: Pain struck Prospero, he stumbled back and fell off the mezzanine floor.

Narrator: The sweating began, and blood drooled from the Prince’s mouth.

Narrator: The body ate itself, inside to out.

"And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all."
I couldn’t end the story as well as Poe does, so I just took the final quote straight from the book :)

I hope you enjoyed my take on the story, or didn’t enjoy the story, whatever you’re meant to feel when you read this story!

I’m going to provide some images of the details in this model, just in case they weren’t visible throughout the story…

Those spiral steps were a pain to make, I’m happy with the result though.

My favourite details are the clock and the chandelier. I really wanted the clock to have a moving hand as it is a key part of the story and the LEGO clock piece never reaches midnight, just 6:20 :)
The chandelier was particularly fun to make, especially when I got to use the “Emerald Night” wheel on something that wasn’t a train.

The first person to correctly guess which LEGO piece is used for the neck of the violin gets a special prize :)

Well done George! I do like your take on 'Masque' - a really fun mix of a tasty build, good humour and some clever Poe quotes and jokes. I would have plumped for the pit and the pendulum myself - ignore the stuff in the dark, every film version ever made did!Good luck to you as the final representative for Blighty in the contest, keep it up!

Best George G.
To my own wonder I had not yet replied to your entry. First of all I want to congratulate you on you victory against me and my entry. Therefore I want to wish you best of luck in your next round(s), I'm sure you'll do just fine if you keep up this good work (you just GOT to win). Secondly I hope I didn't disappointed you with my (lack of) entry. If I had taken more time to build you might have had a more glorious victory :). You sure have got a very well deserved win. Thirdly I would like to make some comments about your fantastic entry:
-Your whole setup is fantastic (and very big):
-I love the way you made the stairs and the music instruments, they are the best details of the whole MOC (or at least that’s my opinion):
-I don’t have seen the movie which you have tried to recreate, but I’m sure you nailed it:
-Your British humour is hilarious, and the raven bit made me smile.
-The only thing I think you could have done better is the detailing of some of your attributes, like the banks or the rooms or the raven, to my humble opinion they are just a little bit too rough.
And at last I want to thank you for being my opponent for this round, my vote goes to you ~ good luck with the other judges.

An amazing piece! I've read most of poe's work and would you beleive i'm doing the same catagory as you again!
But I chose The murders of Rue Morgue.
I have to say I love the detail and I love the colours you have used!

George, George, George ... Up to this point I had hold you in high esteem, but I'm sure Poe is spinning in his grave right now (which is at least good timing, since it is Halloween). Poe, apart from Lovecraft, is one of my most favourite authors of all time and I think 'The Raven' is still the best poem I've ever read. Sweating already, George? Good. Now let's have a look at your MOC and story. It's a nice little piece of architecture with some clever features to create the right atmosphere (for example the stuccolike crest, or the crestlike stucco). This in combination with your hillarious story makes me happy enough to grant you my vote. And now I'd like to invite you. I've got a nice cask of Amontillado in my cellar and I'm sure that you'll enjoy it ;o)

Wow George this is quite something. Excellent details all over and the mini figs are perfect for the scene. I love the irony police - very funny. The red death looks very scary too. Good luck George I am rooting for you :).

Quoting Ape Fight
Such an inventive build - lots of examples of great imagination everywhere in this. Like "LWC Guy' you punch well above your weight when it comes to building - your talents are waaaay more advanced than your years. Fly the flag for the British builders, and congrats on getting so far in the MOC Olympics - I hope you go all the way : ) 5 stars

Thank you very much Ape :) I'm glad you appreciate my building skills and think they are more advanced than they should be! Rule Britannia!

Such an inventive build - lots of examples of great imagination everywhere in this. Like "LWC Guy' you punch well above your weight when it comes to building - your talents are waaaay more advanced than your years. Fly the flag for the British builders, and congrats on getting so far in the MOC Olympics - I hope you go all the way : ) 5 stars

Quoting MCLegoboy !
I would have liked to have seen the different rooms like the green, white, red, blue, and BLACK rooms. The piece is very cool though. I never got The Raven anyway. I kind of like The Black Cat thougn. Pluto seemd like such a nice kitty. The Ploice were also a funny additive. I think I will finish this comment off with a question. Exactly how does a Violin equal a Guitar? I'd have not figured out what you meant with there only being a Chello, a Flute, and a Violin, and the first commenter answering it correctly anyway.

The red and black rooms were the same room, and I had included that at the back :) And thank you for pointing out my mistake...

I would have liked to have seen the different rooms like the green, white, red, blue, and BLACK rooms. The piece is very cool though. I never got The Raven anyway. I kind of like The Black Cat thougn. Pluto seemd like such a nice kitty. The Ploice were also a funny additive. I think I will finish this comment off with a question. Exactly how does a Violin equal a Guitar? I'd have not figured out what you meant with there only being a Chello, a Flute, and a Violin, and the first commenter answering it correctly anyway.